


close enough to touch

by helsinkibaby



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 10:26:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8574736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: JJ needs to come down after a high adrenaline case.





	

**Author's Note:**

> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/768420.html?thread=100681636#t100681636
> 
> Theme : hurt/comfort  
> Prompt : Criminal Minds, any, coming down after a high adrenaline case.

JJ didn't sleep - couldn't sleep - on the plane on the way home. Not with adrenaline coursing through her veins, making her body shake. Not with her ears still ringing to the sound of gunfire, not with the smell of cordite clinging to her. Not when, every time she closed her eyes, all she could feel was the sensation of falling, the feel of the hard ground as her body slammed into it, the sensation of a warm body heavy against hers, the remembered smell of cologne and adrenaline and fear almost enough to mask the cordite. 

Almost. 

When they land, she doesn't go home, can't face the thought of that empty house. Will has the boys this weekend, as per the custody agreement, and she can't go banging on his door at this hour of the night, no matter how much she wishes she could feel her babies in her arms. 

Instead she goes to the gym, hits a punchbag til her knuckles ache, runs on the treadmill until she could almost be back home in Pennsylvania and still the adrenaline is in her system. 

Not even a shower can wash it away.

She towel dries her hair, leaves it damp, unable to bear the thought of standing still for long enough to blow dry it. The halls are deserted as she walks through them but when she enters the bullpen, one of the offices higher up still has a light burning. 

She swallows because she knows what that means. 

She swallows because she knows she should turn around, go home. 

She swallows as she starts up the stairs anyway. 

Hotch looks up when she enters, doesn't blink as she closes the door behind her. "You're still here." He doesn't sound surprised. 

"You saved my life today." Her voice shakes and he frowns, pushes the chair back and stands up. "If it wasn't for you..." She can see the bullet hole in the wall, right where her forehead had been seconds earlier and when she smells his cologne, it takes her longer than it should to realise that it's not from memory. 

It's because he's standing right in front of her, close enough to touch her. 

He won't make the first move, she knows. 

He never does. 

Tonight though, that's not going to be a problem. 

Because tonight, with the adrenaline still running through her system, with the fear and what ifs crowding her brain, she's not in the mood to play coy, not in the mood to flirt. Tonight, she's reaching for him, pulling him close and pressing her lips to his in an open mouthed kiss that is everything she didn't know she needed. Her arms wind around his neck, tangle in his hair and he makes a little noise in the back of his throat that shoots straight to her core, makes her rock against him. He makes the noise again as he moves them until her back hits the door and then his hands are scrabbling for her belt just like hers are scrambling for his. 

When he's inside her, it's everything she definitely knew she needed, fast and frantic as he drives every thought, every fear, out of her head. All that exists is him, them, pure pleasure shooting through her body as she shouts out his name and he mutters hers. 

It's only later, when his hand cups her cheek and he kisses her slowly, gently, that she realises he might have needed this as much as she did. 

It's a thought that's borne out when he says quietly, "Come home with me. Stay the night." 

They've never done that before, having made do with snatched trysts in their apartments, furtive knocks on motel room doors when on the road, one of them always slipping out before morning. She's always looked at it as a necessary evil but after today, after facing real evil and barely escaping, she doesn't have to think twice about her answer. 

"I thought you'd never ask." 

His smile, rare and wonderful, is almost enough to chase the last of the demons away. 

Almost, but not quite. 

Later on, in his bed though? That's another story entirely.


End file.
